Valve is counting down to something and it has convinced many gamers that the wait for "Half Life 3," the third entry in the science fiction first-person shooter series, will, at long last, end soon.

A mysterious countdown timer has materialized on the Black Mesa Research Facility (a "Half-Life" fan remake-related website), ticking away hours, minutes and seconds over a distorted Emergency Broadcast System template. Static rings all over the page as it sporadically flashes an image of G-Man, who, like fans of the video game series, seems to be waiting for what's to come when the clock runs out of seconds to spill.

The timer leads up to May 5 at exactly 7:47 a.m. PT (8:47 a.m. in New Mexico). This date turns out to be very significant in "Half Life" mythology as it happens to be the same date Gordon Freeman started to work for Black Mesa. 

Fans have tried to mine more details from the site, hoping it could lead them to more clues about what this is all about. They tried stabilizing the video from the site and they found 8 - 13 - 8 - 16 – 13, which is based on the how the bars flash. Unfortunately, they have yet to come up with an explanation for it and all other attempts were in vain. 

While this rekindled the hope of many for the coming of "Half Life 3," media outlets are more likely swayed by the possibility that the countdown will end with the introduction of "Black Mesa," a "Half Life" remake from the Source engine developed by a third party game studio called Crowbar Collective. This project, just like "Half Life 3," has fans waiting for a decade now. 

But since the countdown ends tomorrow, gamers will finally discover what all of this means.